Look what I found in a box...

Please excuse the crappy picture, my wife is in NYC and has our camera; this one was done with my computer's webcam.
What you are looking at is a G. David laguiole. This particular specimen has sheep horn handles, a carbon steel blade, corkscrew, and punch. I purchased it circa 1988 while living in Laredo, TX. There was no world wide web or ordering stuff online in those days, so I'm guessing I probably bought it from a catalog.
I lost track of it in the ensuing years and today it turned up in a box full of random junk that has been moved a couple times and never sorted out. It was still in its original packaging, but_alas_had some fingerprints etched into the blade and was speckled with corrosion. The bolsters were badly tarnished too.
I polished it down pretty good with some Nev-R-Dull, degreased it, and gave it a bath in a mixture of hot coffee and vinegar. The blade took a somewhat mottled patina, the corkscrew a beautifully even one, and the punch paid it no attention.
Next stop was the Spyderco Sharpmaker and the back of a legal pad. It is now screaming sharp. We'll see how it holds an edge in the next few days.
One of the interesting things about this knife is that it is about half way between being a slipjoint and a lockback. The tang of the blade has hump or notch in it that the backspring snaps down into like on a common lockback. There is no unlocking mechanism, though. You just have to carefully overcome spring pressure until the backspring slides out of the notch. The notch is slanted a bit, though, rather than the ninety degree angle a lockback would have.

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Sniper X

August 18, 2010, 07:38 PM

Nice, and that is an interesting story on the knife and the way it works. I have found two knives that were missing since I moved five years ago. Just found them both within a day, one was my very first tactical knife, a CQC7, the other was one of my first Swiss Army knives. I have since misplaced the Swiss Army knife again but sure it'll turn up.

Joe Demko

August 18, 2010, 07:48 PM

I was just doing a little reading here and there on the web about the laguiole pattern of knife. I was interested to learn that what I thought was a leather punch is apparently actually a trocar. It is used to pierce the rumen of cattle that have the bloat. Huh. You learn something every day.

conw

August 18, 2010, 08:23 PM

Cool pic/knife.

I just looked in a box and all I found was a packing peanut... I think it may be the edible kind made from corn starch... still, some people have ALL the luck.

kamagong

August 19, 2010, 12:49 PM

Nice one. I'm a bit envious, I have a laguiole but it's stainless like most of the ones that are made these days. A classic design like that deserves carbon steel.

Big Bill

August 20, 2010, 06:39 PM

Very nice knife! You had some great knife purchasing instincts back then Joe.

Deltaboy

August 20, 2010, 07:34 PM

Cool!!!!

sonofodin

August 25, 2010, 06:25 PM

Funny how things we cant find magically appear later in a box of junk. Or whilst flea marketing or yard sale cruising you find a gem in a box and the guy only wants a couple of bucks. Oh, happy days indeed.

Joe Demko

August 25, 2010, 06:32 PM

Anybody want to buy it? As I noted above, it isn't mint. The blades have an applied patina and a little shallow pitting. The packaging is a little black cardboard box and some black tissue paper. There's a gold label on the box that says "Laguiole Extra the original knife handmade in Thiers, France by G. David" and has a stylized picture of a crossbow. If you like this style of knife, appreciate carbon steel, and want a user rather than another one for the safe, this'd be it.
Why am I selling it? Because I need to raise cash. I just spent $500 dollars paying the deductible on my motorcycle after my friend wrecked it. I picked it up yesterday, hit a patch of gravel on the way home with it, and went down. Turn signals and stuff are expensive.

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